The Whispers 1.4 "Meltdown" Review

                                           
Well it's great to binge watch a show as they say cos you don't have to wait around for a week to see it and especially if there's certain bits you want to skip over in a hurry, which just weakened the show. It's apparent Wes (Barry Sloane) still has feelings for Claire (Lily Rabe) and she giving him those long, lingering glances when she wanted to get Henry (kyle Harrison Breitkopf) out of the nuclear plant.  As he's now been utilized as another piece of the puzzle by Drill, this time by Minx (Kylie Rogers) who went over to play with him and gave him directions on where Drill wanted him to go. As again another request is answered by Drill, though not sure request is quite the right word to use here.  Henry asks for his father back and this is exactly what happened.  Seems this lockdown at the plant did nothing to prevent what was really meant to happen and Drill gets his own way.

Lots of unnecessary scenes which just chose to make this longer, not with Sean (Milo Ventimiglia) though, as Sean breaks into the plant so easily with Maria (Catalina Davis) and is able to access unlocked doors, (my typo here was unlicked doors, hmm, could be amusing, ha!) leading Wes to think he has inside help.  Once inside he hands the gun over to Maria and tells him to shoot her if he does anything bad.  He then goes into a seizure and she doesn't realize what's happening to him. Sufficed to say they end up being caught and interrogated later on.  Sean draws on the wall of his cell, which seemed like he was trying to make a way out for himself.  Wes tells him his name and wants to know what he's doing here, of course he doesn't know, only that something bad will happen.

Henry follows the clues and finds himself at the plant and Claire sees him in the area which will be flooded as the plant's gone critical and it's the only way to prevent a meltdown and a catastrophe.  She wants to go after him and Wes tries to hold them off as long as possible and as she arrives there she misses Sean by minutes, only Wes sends her in the wrong direction.  Isn't it obvious any exit will be on the ground level and not upstairs.  She climbs up to see Henry down there and there's nothing she can do, but it wasn't a shock to know that's exactly where Sean was headed to save him, he physically closes the door.  Thus preventing the water from entering.  Yeah let's waste time having a reunion inside instead of getting out.

Minx is like a scary kid isn't she and a tad arrogant too.  Thinking whatever she's doing and playing is just a game, but she doesn't understand the bigger picture, that it's not a game, but she says it's adults who don't know what they're doing.  But Lena (Kristen Connolly) should be keeping a better eye on her, not leaving her in the garage all day, without checking up on her and was she really going to kill Grammy (Dee Wallace) well she's creepy enough to do it, with some prompting of course.

As the plant reaches critical point, the explosion and clouds from it disappear into what looked like a portal in the sky, catastrophe averted, still leaving open questions as to why , but it was meant to happen.  That nuclear energy has gone somewhere for some purpose, to help some sort of alien invasion perhaps.  I know a lot of viewers were having a meltdown here themselves on the story and whether to continue watching anymore eps, maybe I'm a glutton for punishment at times, but I always have to finish what I begin to watch.  Besides we can't go wrong with Milo!

Jessup (Derek Webster) didn't get much out of Maria as he questioned her being there and why would she even have anything to do with what happened there.  What was she meant to have been part of some secret sleeper cell come alive.  It's obvious she had no choice but to help Sean, though it's not apparent why he chose her to do so, out of anyone at the hospital or if it was just she would be easy to kidnap.  Though later episodes explain this a little better in her medical expertise being required and she was already involved since she treated him.  Claire was on cloud nine seeing Sean back again and this was also Henry's gift from Drill for helping him in getting ot he nuclear plant and also in helping him harness the energy from the explosion.

The Musketeers 1.3 "Commodities" Review

                                            
The Musketeers are entrusted with the task of escorting Emilie Bonnaire (James Callis) back to Paris to appear before Louis (Ryan Gage). Who is building a miniature ship and wishes they had French flags instead of Dutch, he wants to steal the Spanish Armada.  The Musketeers find Bonnaire at an inn and have to fight to get him from there, as well as his wife, Marie (Emma Skellern)causing trouble as she has a score to settle with him.  He asks for a moment alone with her where they fake being intimate, as she picks the lock to escape.  But Porthos (Howard Charles) waits for him in his wagon, which he wants since he wants to present his exotic wares before Louis.  He offers Porthos some wine and talks of slavery and where Portho's ancestors hail from.  His mother escaped slavery and came to France, but he was looking after himself since he was five.

They find that two scouts are following them and are met with Bonnaire's business partner, Meunier, whom he doublecrossed.  Athos (Tom Burke) tells him they can't have him cos they're on the king's business and Porthos is wounded in the fight with his men.  Aramis (Santiago Cabrera) needs to stitch his wound but he can't be moved, yet they manage to move him to a house nearby, which turns out to be Athos's mansion.  Aramis remarking on his nobility.  As he walks through the house, he has a flashback to his wife and giving her a forget-me-knot flower.  As she eventually turns around, we know that his wife is Milady de Winter (Maimie McCoy) whom he had hanged cos she was a cold blooded killer.

Aramis stitches Porthos up and he needs to rest after he's punched out to make the task easier. Bonnaire would buy this place but it's not for sale.  A shame D'Artagnan (Luke Pasqualino) didn't lift up the torn painting to see the woman's face, nor did he see the flowers in her hand, just like she laid them on his pillow at Constance's house.  Marie comes to rescue Bonnaire and they escape for a while, until they're caught and Marie is shot by the Spanish who have been following Bonnaire. Porthos must remain at the house in his condition and can't give chase so he gets bored and looks at the plans Bonnaire has been carrying.  They show the construction of slave ships and Bonnaire admits he wants to raise tobacco in the colonies, but he needs men to do it for him.  Athos knows slavery is disgusting and objectionable but he has a duty to the king and they must take him there. Saying Louis will deal with him and his slavery.

Athos dreams of Milady and of hanging her as he rides away without seeing the task to completion. She survived since she seduced Roomy as she later tells him and he remains behind to see him, but finds him dead, stabbed.  He goes back, gets drunk and sees her with a torch, she sets the house on     fire Jane Eyre style and tells him how she seduces Remi and he went back for her and revived her. But she killed his brother and put Remi (Tomas Masopust) out of his misery too since he was already half dead.  D'Artagnan returns to the house, since he did look back at it before leaving and rescues Athos from the fire.  I mentioned Jane Eyre cos in 2016 Tom Burke read the part of Mr Rochester in the BBC radio production, but I said he'd make a good Rochester in a proper dramatization, all dark and brooding.  Also thought Wuthering Heights with the scene with the tree where she was hanged.

Bonnaire goes before the Cardinal (Peter Capaldi) who tells him to tell him his plans in detail as his life depends on it.  He's impressed with the venture so the cardinal personally invests in it and he is to set sail.  Bonnaire buys drinks for everyone and the Musketeers ensure he sets sail but on a Spanish ship to Spain.  Athos gives Meunier (John Warnaby) the keys to Bonnaire's warehouse and suggests he empty it before the cardinal finds out.  Also it's treason so they won't speak of it.

Milady and the cardinal makes plans of their own and he asks if the flowers are for him, was he expecting flowers then, ha.  As she ask if he requires her services in the future as she has personal business.
Cardinal "Any notion of a personal life ended the day I picked you out of the gutter and made you my creature.  Even assassins should have a holiday now and then."  As her personal business was no doubt with Athos and the house, as well as Remi and she also makes the acquaintance of Constance (Tamla Kari) as she requires a dress made by her husband.  Mentioning D'Artagnan too.  When he returns he tells Constance he hasn't heard of Milady de Winter and Constance was afraid of her.

An episode where we get to know the background on Athos and Milady and find he was the Comte de Fere, hailing from a noble background, so Milady would've been out of place if she had told him the truth of who she really was.  But would it really have made him change his mind and not marry her, clearly he was besotted with her.  Also a bit on Porthos and his backstory, how he abhors slavery and learned to survive by himself at an early age.  Porthos: "...man is not a commodity."

The Whispers 1.3 "Collision" Review

                                                
Claire (Lily Rabe) looks trough Sean's (Milo Ventimiglia) bag which was conveniently left behind and tells her mother, Willi (Dee Wallace) that he's still alive and she saw him, but he looked right through her.  Her mother thinks it was like before she imagined it, but she says it was real.  She finds a receipt with numbers and says what Wes (Barry Sloane) says to his team about if needing to know where a man's going, you need to know where he's been, as she follows up the lead at the bakery. Obviously the man, Hamal (Riyaz Janif) wouldn't tell her anything even if she flashed her badge, but his wife, Nathifa (Camilla Mahal) stares at her, in that fashion which says, 'I know stuff but I'll only tell you if my husband doesn't find out' deal.  Claire speaks with her and she replies the numbers are an account (for an FBI agent she couldn't tell or have an inkling) after telling her the man's her husband, but Claire doesn't care what they're doing here. She saw him a month before as well, which makes her connect it to the building involved in the earlier explosion.

Wes watches footage of the building explosion and he sees the boy walk into the room which then explodes, he sees a man enter the room and says he was the target.  There was a flickering of lights there too wasn't there, unless my Internet connection was bad and I shouldn't have been watching through a thunderstorm! ha.  He's given a file which the dead man was sending out but the only thing that got through was an attachment, so you weren't so clever in destroying that were ya Drill.  But he doesn't know what's in the photo, it was sent to Harrison Weil (Jamison Jones) the Head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.  Right that's torn it, nuclear stuff's involved now.

Sean takes Maria (Catalina Davis) hostage and makes her drive to a gas stop where he makes her buy shaving stuff, as he shaves his beard.  He doesn't know where he's going or why until he gets there and she leaves Claire's card in with the money, with the assistant, being slow off the mark in calling her number.  Obviously she wouldn't be there as Jessup (Derek Webster) been assigned to the case by director and he doesn't want any judgements about her, he needs to do the work and she'll fix all the personal things in her life.  He answers the phone and gets en route to the station.  In the bathroom, Sean gets a message through the flickering lights and after all that the message turns out to be 'run.' Stealing a car he makes her drive to the nuclear facility.  But she doesn't answer him as to why she has the gun.

Wes talks with Harrison who tells him the photo shows some pipeline and he locks down the facility, after Minx (Kylie Jones) reluctantly agrees to talk with Claire after Lena (Kristen Connolly) asks her to and what she found, a symbol which is the mark of the facility and she has other plans which make a larger puzzle.  There's unexpected activity at the nuclear facility and Harrison is called but Harper (Abby Ryder Fortson) texts back saying he'll handle it and then disposes of the phone.  Her mother (Autumn Reeser) awakes cos she's played her part of the game.  Minx also has a session with a psychiatrist and he tells her Drill's not real, but he's not too happy with that and as she told about the plans, he makes the doctor have an accident by using a child whose ball rolls in front of his bike and he drives into a car.

Maria crashes the car and ends up at the facility, but Sean doesn't get hurt, he instead fizzles out the electricty barrier.  She got him right where he wanted to be.  Of course it's anyone's guess whether Sean is really bad or being manipulated, but Claire's decided he is bad as she tells Wes this.  Henry (Kyle Harrison Breitkpof ) asks Drill to bring back his father, who left for his mission three months ago, after he found out about her affair.  As Claire blames herself for what happened to their son. There's quite a bit of exposition on the affair between Wes and Clare which slows things down a bit and really isn't very exciting to know about.  People have affairs yeah, guess the main question will be why did they and how did Lena find out.  Other than that they should've concentrated on the main plot about the children, Drill and Sean and how they're all connected.  Maybe that wouldn't have made 13 episodes but it could've been done.  There needs to be more character development and right now the only interesting aspect is Drill/Sean (and no this is no indication of any bias towards Milo either!)

Though Sean does get some hilarious lines about seeing a psychiatrist and he told him he was crazy, as if he wouldn't!  And Maria: "What do you think you're seeing?"
Sean:" I can't explain it. It's like deja vu...it just feels familiar."
Maria: "It's hard to have deja vu when you've got no memories."  Ahh but that's Sean the man without memories, he appears to be influenced by something, as we know, so the thoughts of what he's doing or has to do, might have been embedded in his mind which also caused him to lose his memory, as he also asks who the woman is who was looking for him.  But I have to say I had deja vu whilst watching this show!

The Musketeers 1.2 "Sleight of Hand" Review

                                                 
As D'Artagnan (Luke Pasqualino) has a duel with another man, the guards arrive to arrest him, as duelling is prohibited.  This is what Treville (Hugo Speer) reiterates to them at the garrison and D'Artagnan is in prison and will be executed for this as an example.
Athos: "Nothing more we can do for him."
Pothos: "No point all of us gettimg arrested."
Aramis: "He knows the Musketeer motto: 'every man for himself.'  Yeah since when?  Ha.
Here he befriends, Vadim (Jason Fleyming) a criminal who is plotting the execution of Louis (Ryan Gage) and queen Anne (Alexandra Dowling).  He shows D'Artagnan a magic trick with a coin and he tells him the trick is to make the audience look the other way, which will be brought up again twice in the ep later on.  Word gets out of his plans and the Cardinal (Peter Capaldi) asks where he would kill the king and how, as Vadim's stolen gunpowder.  A good place Treville replies is Notre Dame where Louis and Anne show their faces to the public after the service.

Constance (Tamla Kari) is livid that they didn't help D'Artagnan and abandoned him in danger, then slaps Aramis, "God, I love that in a woman...violence."  What with that slap and Suzette (Denise Gough) complementing him on his "lovely eyes" which Athos (Tom Burke) was meant to have mentioned to him in the morning and then getting slapped on the other cheek by Constance again, this was becoming a bit of a habit with Aramis, not to mention getting a private audience with Anne as well.
Aramis: "I don't like this, I've never been unpopular before...I'm the more romantic hero type."  As opposed to Porthos (Howard Charles) who is the unpopular one.
Constance's husband, Bonacieux (Bohdan Poraj) also catches her with the Musketeers, helping them out and is later glad he could help when they explain why.

Anne also likes to pardon prisoners and pays a visit to the jail, she never picks a good day to do anything does she and always gets into trouble, see series 3 where she hands out money to the poor and has to be saved and also as she wants to help the poor of Paris with reading and she also needs to be rescued from the rabble crowd.  Here it's the same thing and as she hands out money Treville tells her the hardened criminals would consider her soft for doing this.  Vadim tells D'Artagnan he's going to escape and walk right out the door.  He pretends to have a fit and knocks out the jailer, with D'Artagnan begging him to take him too, cos he's not a Musketeer.  Outside guards open fire and he takes Anne as a hostage demanding the door to be opened, which Treville orders to be done. Surprised no one saw D'Artagnan signalling to Treville to give the order.  His men are waiting outside and he kisses Anne and lets her go.  She just stands around in the middle of the gunfire and commotion and Aramis dives in to save her and protect her.  For which she's grateful and later she gives him her cross, so it will protect him in the future.

D'Artagnan is taken to his hideout where he learns of Vadim's plans, saying he can be trusted.  He later leaves and D'Artagnan follows him to Suzette's house, his mistress.  D'Artagnan is caught by his man and tells him he's visiting his mistress too, Constance and he kisses her, so she must play along and invites him inside.  Athos and the others arrive and he tells him of the plans, but he has to continue and returns.  Vadim tells him he should ask if he wants a conjugal visit next time and he hands him a map of the route and where they will use the bombs.  Then tells him to get some wine to celebrate.  D'Artagnan is awfully naive in these early eps, since he doesn't realize Vadim is already aware of his working for the others.  He gives the map to Porthos and they are ready for the attack the next day.

Vadim tells them they have a traitor and he ties up D'Artagnan with some gunpowder giving him eleven minutes.  His men attacks Louis and Anne by throwing the bombs and D'Artagnan tries to free himself.  They realize it's a rouse after they find out Vadim used to work at the palace and was shown the queen's chambers and the palace on an educational tour.  Also the diamond necklace of Anne's was stolen.  Athos says they're really after the jewels at the palace and again that's the same as the series 3 ep where Grimaud was after the gold and the release of the prisoners was a diversion.
D'Artagnan gets out but can't prevent the gunpowder from going off.  But he manages to foil Vadim's plans as he attempts to escape with the jewels.  They also know Suzette was lying to them when she told Athos and Aramis she didn't know where Vadim was.  As she plans to leave, Milady (Maimie McCoy) ambushes her and steals the necklace, later telling the Cardinal that she didn't come across it when it's right round her neck. Obviously she's playing anyone and everyone here to get her own way and what she wants.  (Suzette was a little crepe Suzette thinking she could get one over on Milady!)

See D'Artagnan missed Vadim's plans twice, when he gave him the map he should've known it was a decoy and not a real map, but he didn't realize it cos he was looking the wrong way, hence the title, sleight of hand.  Constance was warming to D'Artagnan and nay fool could see she was really falling for him, even if she is married.  She kind of married in haste and repented in leisure with him, as she said once, he was all she could have at the time and didn't want to be left without any prospects, even if it was a boring life.  Some funny moments again and Aramis putting his foot in it, especially where the ladies are concerned.  Of course he'd save Anne and as their eyes met...!! ha.

The Whispers 1.2 "Hide And Seek" Review

                                      
As Claire (Lily Rabe) follows up on the lead of the photograph, she calls Jessup (Derek Webster) to ask him to hold off putting it out in public and tells him to meet her at the hospital.  Henry (Kyle Harrison Breitkopf) tells her about his new friend and when she asks about him, she's interrupted by the doorbell, of course that was Drill ensuring he doesn't tell her anything.  But really couldn't the doorbell wait, it's not like anyone who's there will go away if it's someone she knows, or will be doing more than cold calling! At the hospital as he asks Harper (Abby Ryder Fortson) questions about the photo and if that's Drill, her father, Harrison Weil (Jamison Jones) tells her to answer the questions, but she says she can't otherwise her mother won't get well, it's a game and she has to play and win.  She asks Harper if Drill stops her from answering Maria (Catalina Denis) and she says it might be okay but then doesn't tell her anything.  Maria sees the photo and tells Claire the man was her patient and ran away.

Obviously they don't know his name but he had tattoos and spoke Arabic (hey look Arabic speaking aliens!! ha and I mean aliens as in little grey men!)  As Claire watches the surveillance footage with Jessup, Sean (Milo Ventimiglia) strikes down a guard.  She pauses it and zooms in, he asks her who he is cos she's keeping something from him and she replies it's her husband.  They only found his plane and no body, but the man here wasn't behaving like Sean cos he doesn't speak Arabic or have tattoos.  She gives Maria her card and tells her to call only her if he turns up.  Now wait a sec, we see Sean had an appointment with her which he cancels, but he couldn't have been the one with the appointment.  He just said that to ensure she wouldn't be at home, cos I was thinking (for a change) if she had an appointment with him she'd have told him and secondly she wouldn't have had an appointment cos he was meant to have remained in hospital, not run away.

En route to the hospital, Wes (Barry Sloane) stopped Claire in her car and she told about the sketch and the man being Sean.  He doesn't think it's a good idea to talk in public as Lena (Kristin Connolly) just told him the whole of the neighbourhood probably knows about his indiscretion and affair with her.  He also says he had a second chance with Lena and Claire says she hasn't been given a second chance.

Sean heads to Maria's house where he finds a gun and showers before passing out in the shower! Right any ol' excuse to go shirtless and nakked!  ha.
                                            
Seems he was in there quite a while without getting wrinkly skin!  He comes out and then draws on the floor, another symbol.  Thought that symbol looked a little like the swing where Minx (Kylie Rogers) headed after leaving home, saying she doesn't want to be there anymore cos she doesn't like her parents arguing and the way they look at each other.  Of course she was getting up to her own tricks according to Drill, as she tells her friend about a new game she can play and then she'll show her some magic, that's their secret though. Why are children so mesmerized by talking figures and lights, just a general comment, since Minx had lights everywhere in her room and she's had them since she was little, as we see in flashbacks later on.  Guess that's one of Drill's attractions with the lights, as well as only being able to communicate with the use of electricity.

Wes's home is investigated by the FBI since secret files were downloaded and he said it wasn't him. Lena argues with him some more thinking she's been spying on him, but she's still more concerned about his affair.  Which he doesn't seem to be quite over with, no matter what he said about his second chance.  Especially when she tells him he doesn't know what he's talking about and they were much more than that.  Looks like she heard that.  Wes has put a tail on Claire and follows her to Maria's house where she almost runs into Sean, he makes a run for it through the window and she chases him, leaving his bag behind.  Of course she must've been some kind of fast runner cos getting a headstart on her, he didn't get very far, or was that his intention.  Cos after losing her, he shows himself and then vanishes.  She tells Wes she didn't get to see who he was, but she did really and wouldn't tell him.

Henry watches TV in the night and Grammy (Dee Wallace) tells him she heard someone talking in     the room, which he says was the TV, of course he can hear now, but he's hiding that.  That's just another 'reward' Dill's given to him, like teasing Harper about giving her mother back if she listens to him and does what he wants, winning the game.  Satellite footage showed some form of anomaly from where Sean's plane went missing and Wes tells Frommer (David Andrews) he turned off his transponder which cant be done on an F-22.  Minx has plans which show the same symbol Sean drew on the floor and he gets into Maria's car with the gun.

There is something about this show which had more of the supernatural element than anything alien or otherwise cos of the flickering lights, something associated with spirits, rather than anything out of this worldly.  There wasn't much revealed in this episode and no reasons as to why Claire and Wes had their affair to begin with, it doesn't look like there was anything wrong in their personal lives at home, but seemed like a plot device the writers used to plod along, ensuring Minx was told by Drill of this and that made her an easy target to manipulate, as she'd want someone to talk to.  Just like Sean appearing before Claire was just to prove she wasn't imagining things and that really was him, otherwise as I said if he's got amnesia and he's running away why stop and reveal himself, cos there'd be no point in running.

Then there was Wes and Claire, two people who had the oft mentioned and repeated affair, yet she finds it comfortable to lie to him about who she saw and Lena thinks he's still lying to her.  Then if the adults lying wasn't bad enough, we see their children do it too.  Henry keeps the fact he can hear from her and Minx just seems to do whatever she wants whether there are consequences or not, like being able to leave the house at night without anyone knowing.  It's easy for Drill to make them promise not to tell about him or what his game is, cos their parents keep secrets too.  Suppose the only interesting aspect was why Sean would take Maria hostage.  Though the fact he had a storage unit with various clippings and other stuff shows he's been trying to figure out this puzzle for along time.

The Musketeers 1.1 "Friends and Enemies" Review

                             
D'Artagnan (Luke Pasqualino) and his father, Alexandre (Oliver Cotton) ride to an inn and as D'Artagnan puts away the horses, the men inside are attacked.  One is killed and his father is also killed as one of the men says he's Athos (Tom Burke) of the king's Musketeers.  Of course it's not really him as this is the opening we're not meant to know what he looks like yet at least in the show, oh you know, having to suspend disbelief and all that, even though we do know who Athos really is.  The real Athos wakes up in a room and after drinking wakes himself up with a cold bucket of water and dunking his head into it. D'Artagnan rides to Paris to avenge his father.  He gets a room and in the night a woman arrives with another man and he challenges D'Artagnan to a duel the next day.  She waits for him upstairs and takes his pistol from him when they meet on the stairs.  Later sending the night together.  When D'Artagnan wakes in the morning he finds a bloody dagger in her pillow and takes it with him when he hears a scream.  The man she was with is dead in the bath and they see D'Artagnan with the knife, he escapes through the window.

At the garrison D'Artagnan challenges him to a sword fight.  Athos trying to explain he didn't do it. Constance (Tamla Kari) also telling them they should be ashamed of themselves: three against one. He finally gives up and she takes him to her house and bandages him up.  Louis (Ryan Gage) tells Treville (Hugo Speer) he must find Gaudet (Philip Brodie) who has important letters of his, which he's written to Phillip in Spain in the hopes of peace.  He doesn't want Cardinal Richelieu (Peter Capaldi) to find out.  Treville sends the Musketeers after the men, but Athos is arrested for murder and is thrown into prison, after the same impostor robs a carriage and kills the occupants, telling the drier to tell everyone that Athos spared him.  He accuses Athos before the king.

D'Artagnan helps the others cos he wants to know the truth and they find the men at a castle, the only way is over the bridge.  He knows someone who can help them and Constance pretends to be a prostitute so they can overpower the guard and get in.  D'Artagnan fights the man and is about to kill him when Aramis (Santiago Cabrera) tells him they need Gaudet alive.  But he draws his sword and D'Artagnan has to protect himself, so much for that.  Also Constance is shocked at having to fire the pistol and kill a man to save D'Artagnan.  Porthos (Howard Charles) finds the Musketeers uniforms, however the cardinal already has his hands on the letters, as procured by Milady (Maimie McCoy).   Which was a waste of time really, since Louis already admits to the cardinal what he's done and he says he won't do that again without his counsel, but could come in handy for blackmailing purposes.

They arrive just in time to save Athos before being executed by firing squad with a letter from Louis, as Athos wanted it to be over.  Especially with him contending with the demons of Milady and what he did to her, of course, we know it's Milady who is his wife (reading the books aside) as she also showed D'Artagnan the scar around her neck from the rope.

Aramis has his own woes as he spends time with Adele (Emily Beecham) and has to escape when the cardinal arrives early, aka Armand.  He jumps from the window, or at least must hang there until the Musketeers find him, leaving behind his pistol.  Which she kicks under the bed but doesn't get rid of or sends it back to him.  Of course the cardinal was going to find it and use it against her.  He needed to find who it belonged to but Aramis already told him.  He kills Adele for her betrayal with his pistol and Aramis believes she's deserted him for the Cardinal and to stay at his summer house.  Whilst he's also plotting with Milady who killed the Spanish traitor Mendoza who was a poor lover and he would've betrayed the Cardinal eventually as she tells him.

As an opening episode it had all the right amount of interesting scenes and dialogue to get you hooked and jokes.
Treville: "I've had complaints, an allegation you've been duelling with the cardinal's Red Guards, is it true?"
Athos: "let me think...no...because that would be illegal."

 As already we see the Musketeers are a force to be reckoned with and in constant fights with the Red Guard and detested by the cardinal.  So it's no wonder he does away with his mistress, Adele after he finds out she was with Aramis.  Who jumps out of a window to escape as much the same as D'Artagnan did.  The plot where D'Artagnan spends a night with Milady when we know who she really is was kept going for quite some time as he doesn't know she is Athos's wife and Athos doesn't know about them either.  But already D'Artagnan has an eye for Constance even if she is married and we thought Aramis was meant to be the amorous one!

The Whispers 1.1 "X Marks The Spot" Review

                                          
As children play, they're watched by a bearded man, yeah okay how else am I supposed to describe him, short of calling him a perv, which he wasn't!  A girl, Harper (Abby Ryder Fortson) goes back home with her mother, Amanda (Autumn Reeser) and speaks wit her imaginary friend.  Her mother calls her for lunch, oh and how easy for Harper to have gotten hold of those knives in the knife block, it was not only within reachable height, but then she was going to sit there and eat!  She meanwhile raids the toolbox as she's been told to and makes her mother climb the treehouse.  Where she steps on the marked spot and falls through it cos Harper tells her to.  Now how can a child not be old enough to know the outcome of that and what would happen, also who does that to their parents, imaginary friend telling them to do it or not.  Yeah okay I know it's just a show and such things do happen in real life!

Harper isn't the only child affected as there are others who are either influenced by the children themselves or by the 'unknown' Drill, as all their imaginary friends have this name.  Agent Clare Bennigan (Lily Rabe) is called in as she's a child expert and also investigated such cases before, where children mysteriously blew up buildings.  She's also a mother and her son, Henry (Kyle Harrison Breitkopf) can't hear or speak.  As she leaves him at a baseball game.  She's also lost her husband, his father, Sean three months ago and yeah figured out very early and I mean very early on, that her dead husband was the one watching Harper in the playground.

In Mali, Africa, Wes Lawrence (Barry Sloane) is called to the site of some wreckage in the desert, which is unexplainable.  He's called back home and said bearded man, oh let me just call him Sean (Milo Ventimiglia) is admitted to hospital, where he has countless number of tattoos and also speaks in Arabic.  Which is completely irrelevant, but was there for just that added stereotypical factor.  His doctor Maria Benavidez (Catalina Davis) asks for someone to translate and later that night, he leaves the hospital and goes to the playground wearing doctor's scrubs.  Pretty soon Drill makes his way to Henry and allows him to hear again, but it's their secret, also that he will bring back his father to him, which is all he wants really.

Clare is assigned a new partner, Jessup Rollins (Derek Webster) who understandably doesn't want her taking the lead and doing things her way but she's the one who's had experiences with these cases and finally there's the reveal that the man is her husband, Sean cos of the photos around.  An airforce pilot whose plane crashed and was found miles away in the desert.  He finds another tattoo on his arm of the treehouse and presumably that's why he was at the playground.  As we also get to find out that Wes and Clare have history of an affair and now Wes is back home with his wife Lena (Kristen Connolly) also with a daughter, Minx (Kylie Rogers) who's also communicating with Drill.

As for the title, a clue for those who needed to know the show was more sci-fi than supernatural, hence the 'X', yeah that's just me being pedantic, ridiculous or both!  But I would've preferred more supernatural than aliens although it was obvious alien invasion was on the horizon.  Also the plane was "grabbed from the sky and ripped to "shreds" by something.  Thus the alien connection.  Though as more children turn up and are manipulated by Drill getting the others to talk to them or even Drill communicating himself with them, it's apparent the show is about the children more so than the adults.  I do have to say that I got a feeling of deja vu whilst watching this and as my mind wandered, I thought of how Barry Sloane looks much younger in this than he did in Revenge!  Or whether I prefer Milo with a beard or sans beard.  I was still watching though and yes I can multi-task and still be amenable to this show!  Ha.

Once Upon A Time 4.20 "Lily" Review

                                               
It was inevitable that Lily (Agnes Bruckner) and Emma (Jennifer Morrison) would meet again, in a world where flashbacks are law or lore, fairytale lore that is.  But Emma couldn't believe that she and Lily were living so close by when they were older and she didn't even know.  That's one thing about Emma, she's the Saviour and all that, but she's a bit slow on the uptake at times, does a lot of running away and walking out on people, which means she still needs growing up to do and that includes still needing to learn what it means to have a friend.  She called August (Eion Bailey) her friend, her second friend after Lily, but even that came at a price.  Especially when he was changed back to a little boy and losing his memories, so that means she lost him too.

After the reveal that Lily was Maleficent's (Kristen Bauer) daughter and was still alive, Emma had to find her which also saw Snow (Gennifer Goodwin) and David (Josh Dallas) having to apologize to her mother.  As w know apologies don't mean much in this show when we're dealing with villains. It's not Maleficent they must ask forgiveness from, but Lily.  The other thing about Emma is how she bears grudges, particularly where her parents are concerned and they make mistakes, as they're human, as Hook (Colin O'Donoghue) told her, but she still didn't want to listen.  No one's asking for outright forgiveness, but some understanding and not going half cocked into a situation, I mean look at the number of mistakes Hook's made.  Oh and another thing love, she's far from perfect herself. Not going to go into all the mistakes she made in her past, the most glaring being giving up Henry (Jared Gilmore) after he was born.  So in that respects, like mother, like daughter, but Snow had to give up Emma cos of the curse.  She didn't want to.

Anyway Regina (Lana Parilla) needs to find Robin (Sean Maguire) to warn him about Marion being Zelena (Rebecca Mader).  So she and Emma decide on a roadtrip to New York and to get Lily back for her mother.  Which gives Regina and Emma more time to talk.  Regina bringing along the scroll for magical purposes and getting back to storybrook.  Flashback to Emma having found a foster family, now finds Lily in the garage and says she needs help.  Later finding out she robbed a store withe her boyfriend and can't go back there, asking Emma to retrieve her mother's necklace.  Only she is found out by her foster parents and once again Emma runs away, without giving anyone a chance to explain, or hearing them out.  See a trait she's never lost!

The other thing, coincidence or not is how Emma and Lily's life mirrored each other's in many ways and not an Evil Queen's mirror in sight.  Though she was hypocritical, even at that age, she berated Lily for resorting to stealing with her boyfriend and lying to her.  But then that was Emma a few years later too with Neil.  And what's more is that he left her holding the bag literally and then taking the wrap for him.  Now Emma why were you so judgemental back then and still now.

Oh the kicker at the end, Zelena is carrying Robin's baby, well they didn't waste any time getting back into the everyday rigours of married life!  As well as getting one up on Regina cos Robin and his code, he won't leave the baby.  Zelena really up to her old tricks as per usual, you'd have thunk after everything she's been through, she'd have given up on her revenge trait, but green it seems is for life!

Gold trying to get his happy ending and ensure his heart isn't completely blackened.  But isn't it the case, the more he tries, the darker it'll get and quicker.  Now there's this quest to get Emma to turn dark and killing Cruella was meant to be that turning point, but it didn't come. Perhaps since she's lived in the real world and knows how people can really be, that dark maybe isn't in her vocabulary, but bearing grudges is her norm.  What was good about this episode was no foray of flashbacks into the magical world, or the Enchanted Forest, it was just all about the modern world, saving Lily and saving Robin.

New fave character of mine has to be Hook, well, not so much new, at least he's consistent and willing to accept other's flaws, especially those of the woman he loves and can understand the choices people make.  As said he's made his fair share of bad decisions, even if many of them were as a pirate.  It's not as if he had anything to lose back then or anyone to keep on the straight and narrow for.  His character has evolved though and whether it be for the love of a good woman or not, it's good to see that taking place since so many revert back in this show.

The Musketeers 3.10 "We Are The Garrison" Review

                                      

Contains Spoilers

As the Musketeers attend Treville's (Hugo Speer) funeral and say their farewells, Grimaud (Matthew McNulty) narrates about dying; in a scene reminiscent of Feron in 3.6 Death of A Hero.
Grimaud: "bury your friend your minister, the saviour of France.  Your grief is your downfall, while you weep, and mourn as the pain overwhelms you.  You are blind, you won't see me coming!" And the dramatic music crescendo build up...

At Christophe's inn, they say goodbye and talk about Athos (Tom Burke) not touching a drop, obviously Athos was staying sober for Grimaud.  Constance (Tamla Kiri) tells Sylvie (Thalissa Treixeira) she should tell him as they need some good news, but she doesn't think it's the right place or time.  That she is pregnant with Athos's baby.  Porthos (Howard Charles) recalls Treville and gives him a rousing goodbye, by saying how he was a father to them all, gave his life for his country and how he won't forget his bravery and sacrifice.  Touching that Porthos should be the one to pay tribute to Treville as being like their father.  He had father issues and problems in series 2.  D'Artagnan (Luka Pasqualino) adds how he didn't care if you were from a farm or from the streets, or anywhere else.  "All he saw was the man that you could become, the soldier, he gave us a home, a family" and clearly he can hold his emotions no longer as he's in tears.  How they owe him everything and Aramis (Santiago Cabrera) finishes off with how they were all young cadets with self doubt, Treville believed in them and that made them Musketeers; also recalling his "endearing temper."   As they all toast "Treville!"
As explosives come raining through the window and then explode.  The four of them are uninjured and soon there are more explosions, this time from the garrison.  D'Artagnan runs to find Constance as Porthos tries to stop him, but he goes ahead anyway. They find some survivors and pull them out of the rubble and flames and Athos spots Grimaud on the roof as the smoke clears and then covers him, he vanishes.

They believe D'Artagnan to be dead but he comes out alive with Constance and Porthos goes after Brujon (Tom Morley).  D'Artagnan begs Aramis to bring her back to him and after a while she begins to breathe.  Sylvie arrives with help and they take the injured to Christophe's.  Including Clairmont (Daniel Parr) where Aramis tries to save him and remove more shrapnel from him.  Porthos says there aren't any weapons but they stole their gunpowder or the garrison would've gone up in flames and be completely destroyed.

Grimaud tells Marcheaux (Matt Stokoe) the Musketeers are still alive and he only killed D'Artagnan. Marcheaux replies they're demoralized, so they're more or less destroyed anyway, but Grimaud isn't satisfied.  As he plots some more.  Griamud goes after Sylvie and he notices the old woman putting a hand on her stomach.  He asks Sylvie if Athos would come for her and for the both of them, as she spits on him.  He takes her hostage and tells Marcheaux to bring the old woman to him.  He asks why Sylvie would want to bring a baby into this world and she replies he should know why.  Then realizes he doesn't know why.  He kills the old woman and sends her to the a garrison with a note written in Sylvie's hand.

It tells them to meet in the town and all three must come or else they'll start killing the refugees every hour starting with her.  Porthos says they have an advantage in that Grimaud thinks that D'Artagnan is dead and they can use him for this.  Athos asking D'Artagnan how it must be to risk his life for someone he loves and he replies it makes it more worthwhile.  D'Artagnan will take out as many as he can and will be the element of surprise.  When they arrive, Griamud orders them to drop their weapons and they want the hostages first.  Sylvie tells Athos he shouldn't have come.  Grimaud orders them to execute Porthos and Aramis and they're led away.  D'Artagnan finding the time to strike now.  Aramis saying as a condemned man they should have last requests.  Porthos says he'll only waste it by praying.  They fight and overpower the men, then fire two shots.

Then attack the rest of the men to save Athos and Sylvie and the hostages.  But D'Artagnan can only wound Grimaud with his dagger and yet again he makes his escape.  So how many lives has he had then, nine for the entire ten eps so surely his luck has to run out in the series finale.  Sylvie and D'Artagnan take supplies to the inn and Grimaud hides by the docks.  As they begin the task of rebuilding the garrison, Athos tells Anne (Alexandra Dowling) she should promote Porthos as he will be a great asset as a strategist.  She wants Athos to take Treville's place as minister, but he says Aramis is more suited since he has ecclesiastical experience too.   The dauphin is to be blessed tomorrow and she has invited all the people to come, not just the nobility.  They need to go after Grimaud but thus far they've been fighting him by their rules and they need to throw honour out the window and meet him on his terms, yeah fight dirty!

Obviously the blessing was going to be attended by Grimaud as he turns up at the inn and Constance helps him by removing his dagger as he then vanishes again.  Telling her, or rather repeating from before that "pain makes us strong."  Clairmont dies and she tells Broujon he was the strong one.  Elodie (Lily Loveless) arrives in Paris saying Grimaud came after her and she still hasn't named her daughter.  He introduces her to Constance and she'll take care of her.  He tells Elodie he'll always be a soldier.  At the cathedral, Elodie spots Grimaud in the crowd heading inside and tells Constance who he is.  She warns D'Artagnan and they go after him, recalling the gunpowder and clear the church.  D'Artagnan puts out the fuses on the barrels and then fights him, as he cuts his cheek.  Then runs again.  Athos tells him he must do this.  They fight and Athos finally kills him, telling D'Artagnan 'it's done'. Finally!!

The blessing goes ahead and Anne tells the people she's disbanding her Musketeers and reforming them as the peoples' Musketeers, where they will fight for France and for justice still. Outside, she gives Porthos his promotion to General and sends him to the front.  Telling Aramis he should be her minister, but he declines.  Later Athos tells him it's the best way for him to be close to his son and Aramis replies he'll be his son's servant and minister.  Athos reminding him how he didn't think of Treville as just his captain, but more.  He taught them to be Musketeers but also they are men.  Porthos marries Elodie and he wants to be there for them both and she'll get his pension if anything happens to him.  He asks Broujon to accompany him and he becomes a Musketeer.  Athos needs to go away for a while, taking a leave of absence and  wants D'Artagnan to be captain.   He reluctantly accepts, but only as long as he returns.

Oh here see D'Artaganan in a hat!!

Athos also gets to be the one who speaks the title in this ep after Brujon says they don't have anything left, it's not the place that makes the garrison but they do and wherever they go, "we are the garrison."  We also get to see what a conniver Anne really is in secret, well she is Spanish after all, as she hires Milady (Maimie McCoy) to carry out an assassination.  She works for her now and she asks if she really wants this man taken care of.  Who turns out to be, no surprise, Gaston (Andre Flynn) as he is the last remaining loose thread in her ascension to the throne and becoming regent.  Now nothing stands in her way, in her complete takeover of the throne, but was it really all for France and Aramis doesn't realize what lengths she'll go to, to preserve herself and perhaps the dauphin.  hey glad I was right last ep review when I said Milady will probably kill Gaston!  Perception! ha.

As they go their separate ways, Athos narrates now and ends his dialogue with love.
"...with great passion... face a challenge; hearts that stay true to all they hold dear, courage, no matter how many enemies lie in wait for us, faith the daylight will always follow the dark, [Sylvie: "and love"]... 

above all else."

So it ends after three years of fights, romance, intrigue and backstabbing.  A fitting way to go out still blazing before people got bored of it, maybe not so much bored but before writers exhausted all the storylines just for the sake of more eps; but also giving them all a happy ending that they deserved. Porthos getting a ready made family, Athos on his way to becoming a father, Aramis becoming minister and taking up the role, so he's able to see his son and D'Artagnan holds the garrison for Athos's return, keeping the next generation of Musketeers together.

I was reading how many people equated Athos with being similar to Grimaud, but personally I didn't see the similarities.  They were two very different men from two very different worlds and upbringings.  Athos was of nobility, with character and great standing.  He treated people with respect, didn't judge them harshly or unfairly no matter who they were, his personal life with Milady aside.  Even then he did still maintain some feelings towards her.  He was above all a Musketeer, fighting for injustice wherever he came across it and was selfless.  Griamud was the exact opposite. He was not loved, downtrodden in his meagre existence, though it was no fault of his own, he could have strived to be a better man, a better person when he grew up.  Yet he was only interested in what he could get from the world and what he was owed.  In some ways his start to life was similar to Porthos, with only his mother to bring him up.  Grimaud's mother did try to end his life, but she was faced with a terrible life of her own.  Porthos had Treville, but even then he made his life his own after leaving the court of miracles and deciding to go his own way.
Griamud was fuelled by pain and suffering, never by doing the right thing cos it was the right thing to do.

The Musketeers 3.9 "The Prize" Review

                                     
Contains spoilers...

As Gaston (Andre Flynn) and Lorraine's (Robert Glenister) army stands poised at the outskirts of Paris, the news spreading that Louis (Ryan Gage) has died having seen his son once and for the last time, they rush to help, but he's gone.  In a meeting with the council Treville (Hugo Speer) is told Louis took back making Anne (Alexandra Dowling) his regent and he is now the regent.  Which the council agreed to, but even Treville didn't know of.  Treveill has Athos (Tom Burke) take away the dauphin to a safe place since it's too dangerous for him at the palace.  Anne demands to see him but Treville won't tell her where he is.  She's also upset that she's no longer regent as they are at war.

Athos takes him to Constance (Tamla Kari) at the garrison and they didn't even bother changing his clothes until later, but also stupidly left them behind.  She and Sylvie (Thalissa Teixeira) take the dauphin to Christophe's old house, but he doesn't remain there for long, as Sylvie leaves him alone and he goes out.  Here he picks some fruit from the stall and the woman makes a commotion even after Constance pays for what he took.  She wants the guards to arrest them, as they leave.  It was a bit of a cat and mouse and hide and seek story in the ep, didn't know whether to laugh or what as everything that could've gone wrong did and it was predictable. .

Athos doesn't tell anyone what he's done, but it would've been easy for anyone to guess where they would've taken him. Treville gives the order to disband the Red Guard and the Musketeers must enforce it.  Athos tells Marcheaux (Matt Stokoe) that they can't have traitors in their midst.  As they fight, Porthos (Howard Charles) dislocates Marcheaux's arm and he still tries to fight them.  Gaston is impatient and wants to march into Paris now and become the heir, or leave the dauphin on the throne for a while, where he can then have an unfortunate riding accident.  Lorraine also wants his lands restored to him, so they share a common goal.  However Marcheaux and Grimaud (Matthew McNulty) have other ideas, they can let them have the palace, he just wants the gold and wealth. Also Grimaud has the gold to pay the army.  Smarmy Grimaud still can't be taken care of.

Treville sends Aramis (Santiago Cabrera) and Porthos out to get Gaston as he has an offer for him.  He can have the villa that he likes and will have an income.  Gaston thinking Louis's left him a legacy.  Treville plans to divide and conquer.  He also has a plan to find a boy who resembles the dauphin and D'Artagnan goes in search of one.  Anne still demands to see her son and when Aramis returns with Gaston, she asks if he knows where he is.  Aramis also asking Athos what happened to
"all for one."  Gaston spies D'Artagnan taking the boy into the carriage and Aramis watches him take the bait.

Treville and Porthos ride out to meet with Lorraine as Treville offers him back his lands independent of France, which is what he wanted.  Grimaud isn't a party to this, but he knows the men won't march without Lorraine leading them.  Also concluding that the dauphin wouldn't leave Paris, that Treville would find it too risky.  So he sends Marcheaux and his men to search for the boy.  Constance takes him to her house and he rests there. She must find Athos to tell him and finds Anne at Treville's office.  She agrees for her to see her son at the church, which was silly cos Treville was her regent now and not Anne, so she couldn't really order her to do anything.

Sylvie tells her she can't do that but she does anyway and Sylvie finds Aramis to tell him, but Marcheaux overhears her cos she shouts out the location.  Which was stupid so much for keeping him under the radar.  Marcheaux heads there with his men , as Athos and Aramis must fight the guards. Treville says he should get Gaston anything he wants, increase the offer of money and offer him joint leadership of the army too.  As Gaston tells Lorraine he was offered nothing, there wasn't any deal or legacy.  As Treville finally agrees with Lorraine he will give him back his lands definitely, if he agrees to move his men back as a goodwill gesture, which he does.  But takes him a long time to sign the treaty.

At the church Marcheaux's men try to take the dauphin, but Aramis arrives in time and they have to get the boy away.  He tells Anne she's in too much danger here.  Athos finally says he should've told them what was really happening, since when did they do that and why start now, it's a little late in the final series, ha.  D'Artagnan finds Constance at the laundry and the woman agrees to hide the dauphin there but she doesn't want money, only the garrison's laundry.  She and Sylvie leave, as D'Artagnan hides under the floorboards.  The woman tells the others to act naturally, which was a joke, as the men search and find nothing, she breathes a sigh of relief, alerting Grimaud that all's not as it seems. What she couldn't wait until he left.  Thus he puts his sword through the floorboards, yeah cos he's so clever.  Finally stabbing D'Artagnan as he gives a shout in pain.  He could've moved from there, but he had to protect the dauphin.

They're both taken to the camp and Grimaud tries to stop Lorraine from signing, he does sign the treaty, but he stabs him repeatedly and Gaston escapes as the others arrived.  Treville and Porthos hold them off as best they can with D'Artagnan.  But Treville is shot by Grimaud, why didn't Athos just shoot Grimaud instead of charging at him with his sword, it would've been easy.  He's done that in the past, but Grimaud gets away and lives to fght another day in the series finale.  As they stand over Treville, who dies.  Think it would've been better to either keep the dauphin in the palace or have him hide out somewhere else instead.  Still plenty set here for the finale, as Grimaud surely must be taken care of once and for all.  He's gotten away with too much for too long and it's always Athos who manages to miss him.  Wonder if we'll get a happy finale or one of some emotion and will our Musketeers all survive.  Silly question really, they have to have a happy ending seeing as it's the last ever ep and also they've had way too much deaths already.  Well, aside from Grimaud whose luck must run out.

A niggle was Milady (Maimie McCoy) Treville hired her as an assassin, but she hasn't done much of anything lately, let alone any assassinating.  Will she come back in the finale and assassinate Gaston or will we not see her again.  She's meant to have a showdown with Constance though, at least, so things can be put right, to a degree, but as this is a different adaptation to the books, probably this won't happen, then again...